'Exile Nation' Documentary to Premiere -- Exposing the Drug War as a Trillion Dollar Social Catastrophe

Announcing the premiere screenings of The Exile Nation Project, a documentary archive of interviews and testimonies from criminal offenders, family members, and experts revealing the far-ranging consequences of the War on Drugs and the American Criminal Justice System.

The Exile Nation project will unfold over a two-year period, beginning with the release of the feature-length documentary and screenings across the U.S. and the U.K -- with dates already planned for San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago and New York. While Exile Nation is on screening tour, the project will also be releasing one complete long-form interview every week (or two) from each of the 100 participants in the project, meant to represent the 1 in 100 Americans who are currently behind bars.

This captivating oral history puts a human face on the Americans subjugated by the US Government's 40 year, one trillion dollar social catastrophe: The War on Drugs, a failed policy underscored by fear, politics, racial prejudice and intolerance steeped in a public atmosphere of "out of sight, out of mind."

The "Land of the Free" punishes or imprisons more of its citizens than any other country. Whle the United States hosts just 5% of the world's population, it holds a full 25% of the world's prisoners. At 2.5 million, the US has more prisoners than China. Not more prisoners per capita, more prisoners.

An additional 5 million are under "Correctional Supervision" (probation, parole, or court monitoring), leaving 1 in 31 Americans under constant State control, prompting The Economist to declare that "never in the civilized world have so many been locked up for so little."

There will be a reception preceding the screening in Los Angeles, with a Q & A to follow with the Director and several members of the cast including Mark Kleiman, UCLA Professor of Public Policy, Judge James P. Gray (Ret.), Lynette Shaw, owner of the oldest medical cannabis dispensary in California, Scott Imler, co-author of Proposition 215, and former prisoner turned activist, Steve Costello.